Some Kind of Magic
by supacalifragilistic
Summary: Ever wondered what exactly happened after Ron told Rose not to get "too friendly" with Scorpius Malfoy? She might have taken the instruction to heart...but did Scorpius get the memo? This is a multi-chapter next generation story about Rose and Scorpius. It follows their lives at Hogwarts and all of the antics and drama of having a huge, famous wizarding family!
1. My Messed up Family

**Chapter 1: My Messed up Family**

 **Okay so first of all: I know Neville and Luna are not canonically together, but in my perfect world they are!**

 **Also Percy's kids are missing here at first, but they're on vacation right now. They're not a huge part of this story anyway. Much love!**

 **Ps in advance: If I ever accidentally say Uncle Fred instead of Uncle George, I'm sorry! I get them mixed up all the time :o**

It was one day before the Hogwarts Express rolled off into the countryside, and the Burrow was a mess. Despite how Grandma Molly labored with her wand, she couldn't pick up enough, clean enough dishes, or make enough food for her enormous family. There were at least two muggle cars outside (which, for a family composed mostly of wizards, is a lot), over twenty brooms in the mud room, and floo powder all over the living room rug. Luckily for her, Ron and Hermione had just arrived early that morning (much to Ron's dismay), and there were extra hands at her disposal.

"Oh, Ron dear! Go be a love and sweep the sitting area, will you?" Grandma Weasley cooed at her youngest son.

Ron, giving an unutterable sound in response, slumped off.

"Oh, Molly, do let me help you with those. Here, you handle those recipes. You know I'm not much good at them." Hermione stepped in and took the dishes from Molly. "Kids, make yourself useful—and don't break anything!"

Hermione's two flame-haired children rolled their eyes at each other and got to dragging the luggage up the winding stairs of the burrow. Ron's suitcase was especially heavy, and his daughter Rose suspected and extra bludger or two nestled closely between his unfolded shirts.

Rose Weasley. The perfect combination of the quirky Hogwarts legends, Ron and Hermione. Rose was smart, tactful, witty, and a bit of a goody-two-shoes. She was also horribly disorganized, obsessed with Quidditch, understandably terrified of spiders, and her appetite could rival most growing boys at Hogwarts. A bit of a diamond in the rough, she only recently, upon beginning her fifth year, grew past 5 foot 3, finally convinced her mom to magically straighten her teeth, and somewhat tame her long mane of bushy locks. Not that she ever cared too much about her looks, she was always getting comments from her more glamourous cousins on how she should "dress more girly," "maybe try makeup," and "go to a dance." None of these, however, interested Rose. Which, as far as the male population at Hogwarts went, was a relief. She had only ever had one boyfriend, and several other guys (mainly Quidditch players) definitely ogled at her. She stuck out, being a bit of a tomboy and yet somehow always glowing from exercise. All of this went completely unnoticed by Rose, which was much amusement to her male cousins.

When she and Hugo were done with the luggage, it seemed Uncle George popped out of nowhere to greet them. Rose let Hugo converse with his Uncle while she went to the room that most of the girl cousins would be staying in.

As she hoped, her pigmy owl was at the window, holding a dainty bundle of letters. She ripped them open, reading the addresses quickly. Just Albus, telling her they were on their way, and Alice Longbottom, who had the same message. Almost as soon as she laid back down on the bed (which was one of the many in that room, all squished together and enlarged by some enchantment), she heard several quick raps at the door. Before she could even get up, she heard her mother exclaim, "Neville! Luna! So good to see you."

Alice Longbottom, tall, gangly, and fair skinned, ambled in after her parents. Rose was down the stairs in a second to give her a tight hug.

"I missed you!" Rose said, delighted. "How was America?"

"Oh, good!" Alice replied lazily. She looked quite tired. While their parents visited, Rose and Alice took her things upstairs to the bedroom Rose was in earlier.

"Home sweet home!" Alice said, flopping down on a bed.

Rose giggled merrily; she too felt as if the burrow was a second home. Alice had been staying with the Wotter clan (what the Weasley and Potters called themselves when they got together) ever since first year, because she and Rose had been friends practically since birth. Alice's parents weren't exactly the closest friends while in school, but ever since the battle of Hogwarts and the many visits to the Burrow and Hermione and Ron's house, they bonded quite quickly.

Alice received her soft, platinum hair from her mother, and some of her airiness as well. She had it cut into a bob that reached her shoulders, and her bangs were long at her eyelashes. She was probably Rose's closest friend, not counting her family members, such as—

"Al!" Rose screeched all of the sudden, leaping up from her bed and bounding towards the bedroom door. Albus Severus Potter stood, wearing an old jumper and knee-deep in his Hogwarts luggage. His black hair constantly messy, Rose only messed it up further by slinging her arms around his neck and practically knocking him over.

"It's good to see you too, Rosie." Albus said with a wink at his favorite cousin. Rose finally let go, but only attacked once again by mussing his hair playfully. Alice and Al hugged warmly, and soon Al was also on a bed like one of the girls, taking off his shoes and stuffing them under his younger sister Lily's sheets.

"Albus, GET OUT!" Lily yelled when she saw him. "And get your ruddy luggage out of the way! People are trying to walk here!"

Lily, Harry Potter's youngest and only daughter, was a flame-haired beauty. Built athletically like her mother, she was in her fourth year and usually had ten boys pining after her at any given time.

Albus got off the bed, but stayed around to talk. After much catching up, and many questions for Alice about her trip to America, it was time for the Longbottom girl to go downstairs and say goodbye to her parents. Neville called up the stairs a few moments later, "I'll be seeing you all soon!" he was the Herbology Professor at Hogwarts.

When Alice came back up the stairs, she looked at her friends and sighed. "I sometimes wish my parents weren't always at my school…however, I do have a few more days of privacy!"

Rose laughed at her friend, nudging her lightly. "And what are you going to do with your short lived freedom, Alice my dear?"

A devilish grin spread Alice's face. "I don't know…" she had suddenly pulled a redwood wand out of her pocket.

"Alice, what…" It was then that all three of the cousins realized their friend Alice didn't own a redwood wand. In fact, none of them did.

"Whose wand is that?" Lily asked suspiciously.

"I only know one person with a redwood wand…" Rose began, and then her face became quite red as she realized who this person was.

A shadow fell on them, and the shadow spoke in a surprisingly deep (and not very happy at all) voice.

"Alice Longbottom, its in your best interest to give me my want back."

Scorpius Malfoy. Who had invited him to the Burrow, Rose wondered.

"Unless you can perform wandless magic, Lily has nothing to be afraid of, does she?" Rose asked the platinum-haired boy haughtily.

Scorpius squinted at her, obviously clenching his teeth. "Pepper, isn't it? No, no…something else red…ah, tomato! I knew your name was something of the kind. Uncanny, really, how your namesake mimics the exact shade of your revolting hair, face, and…" he paused, squinting harder. "Can you even call those brown smudges all over your body freckles?"

Albus, Scorpius' best mate, was laughing hysterically. Rose knew he loved her, really, but he did love to jump in on the "make fun of Weasleys" game every now and then.

Alice slipped the wand to Rose behind her back.

"Okay, very sly. I'm not an idiot, I know Rose has my wand now." Malfoy drawled impatiently.

In a flash, Rose brandished the wand and cast a spell before anyone could say "Weasley." And that's exactly what Malfoy did say.

"Orangatium!" Rose intoned, pointing directly at Malfoy's shining locks.

"Weasley!" he exclaimed, sounding hilariously, Rose might have added, frightened.

If Albus was laughing before, he was wheezing as though he were dying now. Rose Weasley had successfully turned Malfoy's hair a lovely shade of autumn pumpkin…with his own wand.

"You wanted this?" Rose asked triumphantly, throwing Malfoy his wand back. She turned to go, a snickering Alice and Lily behind her, when she turned around suddenly as if the thought just occurred to her. "Oh, Malfoy? Don't even think about more ginger jokes this year. Unless you want your face turned the color of a pumpkin as well. Have fun reversing that one, boys!"

When the girls had left, a seething Malfoy turned to Albus. "And WHY are you still laughing, Al?"

"Mate…" Albus said, catching his breath. "You had it coming to you."

Around midday, Uncle George's son, Fred, strolled into the sitting room with an extremely wide grin on his face. Ron and Harry gave each other troubled looks, not really wanting to know what glorious amusement their beloved nephew had drawn up this time. Slipping out of the room quietly, the only adult supervision left to see what Hermione and Molly were up to in the kitchen.

Rose was sitting on one of the chairs, reading a large book. Alice and Lily were braiding each other's hair and talking in hushed voices about American boys. Hugo was polishing his broom, and Scorpius and Albus were playing wizard's chess. James, the oldest Potter boy, was reading a quidditch magazine. Victoire and Teddy Lupin were cuddling on the other couch, and Fred's little sister Roxanne was humming rather loudly to a muggle CD in the corner of the room.

Fred cleared his voice loudly. "Attention, attention, extremely large and strange, mostly ginger and annoying family members and friends." He called loudly. He got *nearly* everyone to look his way.

"I would like to announce the beginning of our annual Wotter quidditch tournament. Whoever kills Roxanne Weasley first…wins!"

Fred was instanstly chased out of the room by a rather frightening Roxanne. It didn't take much more than the word "Quidditch" to get the clan out of their seats and into the tiny mud room in which they had stored all their broom sticks. Even Scorpius Malfoy, who wasn't known to play much Quidditch, lit up for a moment before the characteristic smirk sprawled onto his face.

Uncle Ron and Uncle George suddenly burst into the mudroom just as everyone was ready to go outside. "I heard mention of Quidditch?" Ron said, his adult brother beaming ear to ear. Nothing like a simple, safe, non-threatening game of Quidditch to bring a particularly large wizard family together.

Rose knew this was going to be an interesting evening.


	2. The Quidditch Match

Chapter 2: The Quidditch Match

Rose's POV

Two teams of seven players. Three chasers, two beaters, one keeper, and one seeker. After much deliberation, we finally chose seekers (not allowing Harry to be seeker was common – we realized quickly he would just end the game too fast). Out of those who wanted to play seeker, it was a very interesting bunch.

Scorpius Malfoy actually volunteered. Which was odd, not only because he was usually too shy around the Potters to say anything, but also because I, Rose (and pretty much everyone else) had never seen him play a game of Quidditch at all. My dad ultimately decided to let him and Albus as Seekers, which Harry agreed with wholeheartedly.

They ended up drawing sticks, and the teams were: Chasers me, Roxanne, my dad Ron, Beaters Harry, James, Keeper Fred, and Seeker Albus. The next team was Chasers Lily, Aunt Ginny, and Teddy, Beaters Uncle Fred and Louis (who had arrived just in time with the rest of Bill's offspring), Keeper Hugo and Seeker Scorpius.

We were all surprised about Seeker Scorpius, and Al had been known to be a fantastic seeker (father's gene's, of course.) Dominique and Victoire chose to stay out, as well as their dad and aunt Hermione.

I would give a play-by-play of the game, but I was knocked out almost immediately by my dear cousin Louis. Not that he did it on purpose, of course. I woke up around dinner time, laying on the couch with an ice pack on my temple. A tentative looking Albus and a smirking Scorpius were standing over me.

"You okay, Rosie?" Al asked sweetly.

"Yeah, Rosie Posie, you okay?" Malfoy mocked.

I grumbled and tried to roll over, failing miserably as I fell with a thump onto the dusty Burrow floor. "Shut up with the ridiculous nickname and tell me who bloody won the Quidditch game, already. And bring me some food!" I shouted the last part rather grumpily.

Albus and Malfoy gave each other an amused look, finally turning to help me off the floor.

"You know she's okay when she wants food." Albus snickered. He continued, "It was actually our team in the lead for a while…" Albus looked a little upset for a moment, giving a moody glance at Malfoy. "Then Scorpius surprised us all by catching the snitch."

I stared at Malfoy as he smirked down at me. "That's right Weasley, soak it in."

"But Malfoy…" I said. "Why didn't you try out for the team?" I asked sincerely.

This clearly took Malfoy back, as he was undoubtedly expecting some smart insult from me.

"Well because, Weasel, I didn't want to be on the team with a bunch of filthy gingers!"

Albus and I burst into laughter, which hurt my abs considerably.

Malfoy just scowled at us, his face turning pink with embarrassment.

And why were we laughing? Malfoy had obviously forgotten that his hair was still an unsightly shade of ginger before making another "Gingers are the scum of the earth" crack.

"I wouldn't want to be on the team with you either, Malfoy!" I finally said, wiping a tear from my eye.

Finally around 7 o clock, Grandma Molly called everyone for dinner. The table, which was normally huge, had been enlarged by magic to fit the enormous family. I immediately stood up when she called us, which cause Malfoy to do something very strange indeed. He looked extremely alarmed and gently grabbed my shoulders to set me back on the couch.

"Rose, you can't get up and walk around. You just got knocked out, for Merlin's sake!" he said, and if I wasn't mistaken, he had actually sounded concerned.

I looked at Albus to stand up for me, but he was nodding in agreement. "Scorp is right. I'll get some food for you, Rose. You're staying in here."

"But I want to eat dinner with everyone! It's a tradition! The big family table—all of the Weasley and Potters here together! Albus!" My whining seemed to be effective, because Al seemed as though he was deliberating.

"Wait here, you two." Scorpius said suddenly. He walked into the kitchen.

"What's he doing?" I asked Al impatiently.

A moment later, Scorpius was back with several plates of food. He handed one to me and Al. Followed by him were all my uncles, aunts, and cousins. They were going to sit in the sitting room to have dinner with me!

"Good idea, Scorpius!" Uncle Harry said, patting Malfoy on the back. Malfoy looked quite stricken to be touched by Harry, but he smiled regardless, as a small pink tinge spread to his cheeks once again. Malfoy, blushing? Wasn't he just full of surprises today?

The whole time, my mouth was open. Who knew Malfoy could reach into his frozen heart and do something sweet for another non-cold human being? And for me, of all people! Why, he hated me!

"Better start shoving biscuits into that insolent mouth, Weasley, or else you wont be able to gain your usual 100 pounds by the time school starts." Malfoy snapped at me.

Ah, there was the Scorpius Malfoy we all knew and hated.

In truth, I did eat a lot of biscuits. What could I say, I'm my father's daughter. There was also roast, potatoes, casseroles, salads, beans, and oh, the desserts! I got a second plate of desserts, deciding to altogether ignore Malfoy's snickers and "fat" comments. I knew I wasn't fat, but most importantly, I had long since stopped caring about what Malfoy thought about me. The only thing was…I suddenly realized he much have thought or cared about me slightly more than I gave him credit for. Which was disconcerting, to say the least.

After dinner, all the cousins crowded into the backyard once again to play "gnome golf" (a game James created a couple summers ago) and just relax by the pool.

"Just because he's an anamorph doesn't mean he necessarily practices transfiguration more than the averge wizard." I was saying to Al and Scorpius.

Al replied, "But genetically he must have some advantage over the rest of us, since its in his DNA to change his face magically whenever he wants to!"

"His mother could change her appearance whenever she wanted to, I've only really seen Teddy change his inadvertently."

"Oh c'mon rose, you've got to be kidding me. Haven't you seen him chance his face into a spider when Uncle Ron's around?"

"He can do that?!" I shrieked, watching a blue-haired Teddy Lupin cannon ball into the pool.

"Yes, Weasley, he can also change into a prettier, more accomplished version of yourself." Malfoy drawled lazily from my other side. "I hear its not that difficult anyway."

I snorted quite unattractively. "Talk to me when you've changed your hair back to normal, Malfoy, because I simply cannot take you seriously right now as the love child of Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy."

For the third time that day, a scowl came onto Malfoy's face and the rose tinge spread onto his pale skin. Wait, did I just use the word "rose" to describe something about Malfoy? Snap out of it, Rose.

Sticking his nose in the air. Malfoy calmly sauntered away from me to the edge of the pool, where he got Teddy's attention and started speaking with him. In no time at all, Teddy was out of the pool to de-gingerify Malfoy with his wand.

"I win the argument!" Albus said joyously from beside me. "Teddy Lupin is better at Transfiguration than you, he just turned Malfoy's hair blonde again!"

I rolled my eyes as hard as I possibly could, and pretended to nonchalantly yawn as I stood up. "The immaturity of my companions is starting to bore me," I said loudly once Malfoy walked back over. "I'm going to get a book, otherwise I might resort to turning other parts of Malfoy unsavory colors."

I left Al snickering and Scorpius quickly taking off his shirt to swim. I turned around like lightening to avoid this sight.

"What's the matter, Weasley? Afraid of seeing my glorious figure exposed?" Malfoy called to me once he saw me turn around.

"On the contrary, Malfoy." I drawled in a perfect imitation of his pompous voice. "I didn't want to get blinded by your pale, scrawny chest." With a flick of my hair, I went into the mudroom.

I was almost into the sitting room when I heard a heated conversation between Uncle Harry, Aunt Ginny, and my mom and dad.

"—only wish they didn't act like me and Malfoy did at that age." I heard Uncle Harry saying

"You know its all play, Harry. Nothing like you and Draco in all honesty." Ginny replied.

"I'm quite proud of Rosie. I told her not to get close to the git, and she's done exactly that."

"Ron, even you know those old stupid prejudices are gone. Why, it was only last week we had tea with Draco. I actually saw him smile." My mom said, lightly chiding dad.

"Oh please Hermione!" dad said hotly, "You're the one who was tortured in their bloody manor!"

"Yes, by Bellatrix Lestrange, who died!" mum replied. "Draco has seen the stupidity of his ways, and was under quite an amount of stress from his father while at Hogwarts—his father, who's completely estranged him now he's working at the ministry for our division. And I reckon Scorpius is a sharp young lad, he's at the top of all his classes just like Rose!"

Why on earth were my parents arguing about Scorpius Malfoy? I knew Uncle Harry liked him quite well, after all, he was his son's best mate, and I think Harry even saw a little of himself in the Malfoy.

Uncle harry spoke then. "Ron, didn't you see Scorpius help Rose off the field today? He got ice for her and a blanket and waited at Molly hand and foot when she was helping Rose. In fact, it's only when Rose is conscious that Malfoy is a bit of a flaming git towards her." Harry laughed suddenly.

"One would almost think…" mum started to say, and then stopped herself.

"Don't you dare say anything like it, Hermione!" my dad piped up, sounding constricted.

"I'm just saying that he's a teenage boy, and Rose is very pretty and very smart, it wouldn't be impossible if their harmless childhood banter developed into a sort of romantic tension—"

Feeling quite choked myself at my mother's declaration, I gasped for air, and then realizing I had made a noise, I slapped my hand on my mouth. When my hand went up to cup my mouth, I carelessly knocked Hugo's broom over…which knocked down Roxanne's, and Louis'…and on and on.

My dad came running into the mud room. "Rosie!" he said. "Clumsy bug!"

I blushed vividly. "Sorry dad!"

"No matter," mum said brusquely, magically replacing the brooms back into their original stances.

"Er, how long had you been in the mud room, Rosie?" dad asked tentatively.

I looked around like a drowning beetle. "Oh, just ran in a second ago! Al was chasing me and I just slipped!"

The adults all left to take their positions in the sitting room once again, and I hurriedly ran past a knitting grandma Weasley to find my book upstairs.


	3. Pool Antics

**Chapter 3: Pool antics**

 **Scorpius' POV**

I had the perfect plan, which I of course told Albus all about.

"When Rose comes back with her book, I'm going to push her in the pool!" I told him, lunging myself out of the deep end.

Though Albus was laughing at the prospect, he shook his head. "Why do you insist on making her hate you, Scorp?" He asked.

"Because, her dad hates me…and it's very pleasing to make her angry! Her face contorts and gets all red, like a squashed tomato." I was doing it because her squashed-tomato face was actually pretty cute.

"So, you're saying you do it for amusement. How civil." Al concluded.

"Anyway, she beats me in every class, this is just my way of showing her I'm actually cleverer than she could ever dream of being!" And she would have to attack me in sopping wet clothes, something I would infinitely enjoy.

"Sounds to me like you're just jealous that she's so brilliant." Albus said, nudging me with his elbow sharply. I flicked my best scowl at him, to which he splashed water directly into my eyes in response.

Rose had just re-entered. "Hey Rose!" Albus called to her. "Get in the pool with us, why don't you?"

Rose snorted at him, walking right past the pool. "Do you see me wearing a bathing suit, Potter?" she replied.

"Come on, Weasley, anything can be a bathing suit!" Rose turned to look at me as I said this, which was the perfect opportunity to send her a mocking wink.

She pretended to gag, then immediately opened her book. Why was she standing right at the edge of the pool? She was just asking for me to push her in!

I hopped out lightly, sauntering towards her. She was trying not to look at me, I could tell. So, of course, I got right in her personal space.

"What are you reading, Weasel?"

"Malfoy! You're dripping on my book!" Rose looked up then, and I saw the confidence practically leak out of her drop by drop. Like a small, deflating balloon. I was shirtless, and at least a foot taller than her. I was literally glistening in the sun. I couldn't help it; the smirk of all ages was coming.

Her face turned fire-engine red.

"Enjoying the view?" I asked in a low voice I hoped was mock-seductive.

Her mouth opened, probably to insult me, when I seized the opportunity and grabbed her waist. Together, I launched us into the pool. She screamed quite satisfyingly as her book smacked the surface, and she was submerged the next second.

I successfully had acquired the attention of the whole Wotter clan, who was bursting with laughter. Even her family couldn't resist a little make-Rose-blush time!

"Malfoy you ruddy sodding fucking bloody excuse for a human being!" she shrieked at me as soon as her mouth was out of the water. "You've ruined my favorite Jane Austen!"

"I would be more concerned about your attire, Rosie Posie." I said, looking pointedly at her body as she climbed out of the pool. As planned, her wet clothes clung perfectly to her curves. I laid back in the water and enjoyed the view, pretending to soak in the effect of my prank, when I was actually just admiring a very beautiful witch.

She ran inside without another word, clutching her wet book to her chest.

Al looked concerned, giving me a scolding as soon as she was gone. Everyone else, however, congratulated me thoroughly.

Mostly everyone had gotten back in the pool, but Al and I were in two chairs facing away from everyone, discussing the Quidditch game earlier, when suddenly—a giant, icy splash from the pool drenched both of us.

We turned around, our wands drawn, ready to see the sorry sod who soaked us when we were just getting dry—and to my complete and utter amazement, it was Rose Weasley, kicking happily in the pool with a beam on her face. She must have went inside and put a bathing suit on (lucky me).

"Oh no you didn't!" Al said, cannon balling right next to her. She sputtered, but laughed when he came back up with his perfectly messy hair in his eyes. Al and Rose continued to splash each other playfully, when I got my second genius idea of the night. I went under, opening my eyes so I could see Rose and Al's feet spaced somewhat apart. I came slowly behind Rose, then with a definite jerk, I grabbed both her ankles and thrust her under the water.

The repercussions were exactly as I expected, and turned delightedly into a water battle involving most of the Weasleys and Potters.

When it became too chilly to swim anymore, and all of the gnomes were successfully hit out of the yard, we finally decided to go inside and change. It was nearing 10, and the adults were all up playing cards. Uncle Harry had been enchanted into a frog, and Ginny was trying to coax him nearer for a kiss. They were all roaring with laughter at this amusement, hardly noticing their children running upstairs for some games of their own.

I know that was a really short chapter, but it's because I absolutely suck at writing male perspective! And I know my version of Malfoy is slightly different than most; I like to imagine that he has a soft squishy inside under that pompous shell! So yeah, in conclusion, probably the last time I try to write in Malfoy's POV!


	4. The Game

**Chapter 4:** The Game

 **Rose's POV**

One more night with Malfoy, I kept thinking. One more night. Then I could go back to my peaceful common room (which was actually his common room as well…), my dorm, my bed, my studies…and just ignore the ignorant scum that was Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy!

Taking my wet, cold hair out of my face, I dredged up the stairs with Alice. She was talking about her summer job on the Quibbler magazine—she was a junior writer, apparently.

I made a little snorting noise in the back of my throat. "And what do you write about? The ever foreboding presence of nargles in Diagon Alley?"

Alice hit me lightly with the back of her hand. "Actually, I write a little piece about strange muggle activities. Did you know they try to contact aliens with little pieces of metal they call—cell phones?" Alice lowered her voice as if it was a highly confidential topic.

At this, I could no longer contain my laughter. "Alice! That's not what cell phones are used for!"

"And how would you know?" she asked rather grumpily.

"My mum's whole family consists of Muggles! I've seen a cell phone or two, and their mostly for sending texts and calling."

"Sending text?" Alice inquired. "Why would you need a cell phone if you can just get an owl to deliver handwritten text?"

I rolled my eyes, knowing she wouldn't be able to understand. "Tell your readers what you like, Alice. I'm sure the Muggleborns are getting a kick out of it anyway."

Overhearing the last part of our conversation, Malfoy suddenly was beside me, falling in step with me and Alice.

"Muggleborn like yourself, Weasley?" he sneered.

"Oh, shut up. You knew full well my mother is a muggleborn, not me." I snapped at him.

"Just as bad," Malfoy intoned, apparently not backing down from the ridiculous mockeryhe was throwing at me.

"Go ahead, Malfoy, call me a mudblood already, like your father did before you. I'll handle you Hermione Granger style." I smirked, crossing my arms and standing at the landing to look up at him.

Quite unexpectedly, Malfoy's face darkened a little, and he looked as though he had swallowed a rather large bug.

"I would never call you or anyone else a mudblood." He said darkly.

Taken aback, all I could do was stare at him as he stared at me. After a few moments it got awkward, I blushed, Malfoy blushed, and he turned around dramatically to go up the stairs ahead of us.

I knew my eyes were practically bugging out of my head as I watched him go. I turned immediately to Alice. "What was that all about?" I asked her incredulously.

Alice shrugged, looking at me as though the whole incident was a completely normal conversation passed between Malfoy and I. "Obviously Scorpius wants you to know he's not the same person as his father."

"But he is the same person as his father. That's his thing. 'Let's see how much I can bug Rose Weasley by pretending to be my father!'" I countered.

Alice gave me a knowing look, which I found highly irritating. "Pretending." She said simply, then walked up the stairs, leaving me alone with my confused thoughts. He was the same person as his father, and his grandfather! He was a Malfoy. That's what my father had been telling me all my life.

But something in the back of my mind nagged, what if he's not the same?

I wanted to go to bed by 10:30. We had a huge day tomorrow. I had changed into my soft, baby blue pajamas and everything—and Alice into her pink shorts and oversized Weird Sisters T-shirt. Victoire, Dominique, and Roxanne were talking in hushed voices in the corner, their beds all squished together like they were at a slumber party. Alice, Lily and I had our beds together too, but we decided to drape a blanket between our two sections of the room so the other girls wouldn't keep us up.

Lily, however, was refusing to go to sleep.

"C'mon, Rose! One of the few days of the year where all of us Wotters are together, and you want to go to sleep at 10:30?! That's ridiculous! Come, let's go get Al and think of something fun to do! At least until midnight!" she was saying, throwing her long tangerine hair across her shoulders like some model in Witch Weekly.

I turned to Alice, who was, as usual, looking off into space. "Alice," I asked, taking her away from her daydream. "Don't you want to go to bed?"

"Mmm…" she thought for a moment. "Personally, I can sleep whenever. I'm always sleepy sleepy, but I could stay awake too! Whatever you guys want." She turned back to her nails, inspecting them without really seeing them.

Sighing in frustration, I said to Lily, "Well take Alice and do something with the boys, but I'm going to bed—"

As the words left my mouth, our bedroom door clambered open, and a flannelled Albus Potter stood with a wicked gleam in his eye.

"No one is going to bed just yet." He said authoritatively.

I grumbled. "Albus, I will go wake up my mother, so help me—"

"Your mother is currently incapacitated from firewhiskey." Albus said shortly. I stared at him in horror. He only smiled wider. "Hugo and I switched her cup."

My "innocent" little brother peeked out from behind Albus then, smiling shyly at me. "Sorry, Rosie. I just didn't want you go and waking up mum. Albus said we were going to play a game!"

Just then, Dominique joined our group. "What did you have in mind, Potter?"

"An excellent game me and James came up with!" he said delightedly, now that I could no longer refuse to participate. James came in our bedroom then, sitting at the edge of Lily's bed. She pushed him roughly to get up, but he was so large and she was so tiny that she just ended up in a pile on the floor.

James was followed by Teddy, Louis, Fred, and Scorpius (gag).

"Nice space, ladies!" Fred said, tearing down my blanket-wall. Everyone took their seats, the girls bunching together and the guys forming a semi-circle around us (with the exception of Teddy and Victoire—who were practically engaged already and could hardly ever keep their hands off of one another. Gag!)

As Scorpius sat down next to Al, he smirked at me, eyeing my pajamas.

"Nice jammies, Weasel." He said. He was also wearing flannels, and a black jumper—which kind of made him look like an evil vampire because of the contrast with his white skin.

"I could say the same for you, Malfunction."

With a loud clap of his hands, James called us to attention. "Now, people, this game was made up entirely by me and my genius brother, Albus Severus." The two brothers smirked at each other. "We mixed up three muggle games, would you rather, spin the bottle, and truth or dare." James produced a glass bottle with a "Weasley's Wizard's Wheezes" label facing out so everyone could see. Ah, one of Fred and George's joke sodas. The bottle was empty, of course, and he set it down in the middle of the circle so everyone could see. He then took out a deck of cards and placed a joker, queen, king, and ace around the bottle. "Now, we all take turns spinning the bottle. Whichever card the bottle lands on determines if you will be asked a 'would you rather' question, a truth, or a dare. The king means the spinner may choose any they want. The queen is truth. The ace is dare, and the joker is 'would you rather'. The person who spins turns to the person next to them to ask the question. Now, let's go clockwise, beginning with Al!"

When James sat down, the room was dead silent, waiting for Albus to spin. As he did so, everyone held their breath. The bottle landed on the joker.

"Okay, Rosie," Albus said, turning to me. "Would you rather…be sorted into Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff?"

I made a small snort, as if it should be obvious. Of course I was in Gryffindor, but if I had to choose between the two… "Ravenclaw." I said easily.

Alice smiled widely at me—she was in Ravenclaw.

When it was my turn to ask Alice something for truth, I goaded her into telling me an embarrassing story—of a time she laughed so hard she peed.

Alice spun, and the bottle landed on dare. "Lily," Alice said slowly, thinking. "I dare you to…fly your mother's broom around the yard! Right now!"

Of course, always the life of the party, Lily was willing to do this dare. We all watched out the window as she flew around, showing off her skills by doing some turns and flips.

It was an extremely fun game, I could give James and Albus that. However, it was exceedingly difficult to find questions to ask one another that we didn't already know. I knew practically everything about Albus and Hugo, Alice and Lily, although Dominique and Victoire sometimes still remained mysteries to me. We went around the circle several times, and found out that Teddy would rather eat a flabberworm than ride a muggle "roller coaster." Louis' childhood crush was Rita Skeeter (really Louis?), if Alice had one wish, she said she wished she could play or understand Quidditch at all (I had a feeling this was a stab at Albus for being so obsessed with Quidditch all the time), and Al was forced to tell us an extremely embarrassing story in which he called professor McGonnagall "mum"!

For me, the dares were the funniest part. To see shy little Alice get dared to tickle my dad in his sleep, and to see Hugo dared to call James "Your Highness" for the rest of the week was pure gold. But all that fun ended when we were finally wrapping the game up, and Albus had his last turn for the night. He spun the bottle, putting an extra umph into it, and we all waiting on baited breath to see what horrible embarrassment I would be subject to this time.

It was a dare.

Albus had a very evil glint in his eye, and for a moment I began to question his place in Gryffindor. He was going to make me do something I would never be able to forgive him for.

"Rose Weasley, we've all seen you yell at Scorpius until you're blue in the face." He announced.

Wait, what? C'mon Al, just get on with my dare! I'm ready to go to bed!

"And Scorpius," he said, turning to his surprised best mate. "We've seen you deliberately do dumb stuff like push Rose into the pool or set her robes on fire just to make her mad," he continued. "Maybe all this animosity would stop if I dared Rose…to kiss Scorpius."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Full of Firsts

Rose's POV

As soon as Al finished proclaiming his dare for me, Scorpius started sputtering incoherently.

"That's just ridiculous," he finally said.

"For once, Malfoy, I agree with you." I said, giving Albus the 'I'll kill you later' stare.

"If my father found out I kissed a Weasley—I'd be dead, he'd crucio me." Scorpius said.

"Too late. I've dared you, and the bottle has a binding spell on it. If someone doesn't complete their dare to the darer's satisfaction, they get a hideous case of spattergoit."

Looking quite pleased with himself, Albus looked at me and Malfoy expectantly. "Go on." He said. "I want to see some sparks fly."

The hell did he mean by that? Did he think one kiss and he would hear wedding bells? Not on my watch. I was destined to hate Malfoy.

"Can we at least have some privacy?" I squeaked, suddenly flaming red spread across my cheeks. The constant stare and occasional giggle of my cousins was heavy on the back of my neck.

"Sure," Albus smirked. "There's a closet over there."

Mortified, Scorpius and I were just about to close the closet door when Al yelled at us, "It has to last more than three minutes, and the magic bottle will know if you fake it!"

I slept heavily that night. But I had the strangest dreams. I was in a clear, crystal pool, wading past my knees. I heard someone calling to me, so I got out. All of the sudden, I was in my school robes and I was in Hogwarts. I heard my name again—Rose! Rose! Bouncing off the corridors. I picked up my pace, fearing someone was in danger. It was a male voice, friendly like silver bells—but surprisingly cold and restrained.

I kept turning corner after corner to only find more dark corridors. Finally, I came to a door, which I opened and—

There was the pool again! It was as if Hogwarts disappeared. And there were a man in the pool, wading just like I had been. He had extremely blonde hair, and he wasn't wearing a shirt. And oh merlin, he was fit. His broad chest glistened, his grey eyes saw me and he smirked. Wait, I'd know that smirk anywhere! It was Malfoy!

My dream-self obviously didn't adhere to my intense hatred for the boy—man? In this dream, he looked more like a man, with his bulging muscles and glistening…

Anyway, my dream-self seemed to be pulled closer and closer towards him with a magnet-like attraction.

Soon I was in his arms, staring up into his silver-grey eyes. That smirk appeared once again on his face, but it wasn't as annoying as it always was…almost affectionate.

"Oh, Rosie," he said, a slight mockery to his voice. "I always knew you would come around." He leaned down, and my dream-self wanted it. She wanted to complete the kiss, to get wrapped up in his arms and feel the warmth of his breath, his lips, all to familiar, as if I had felt them before…

I woke up, a sudden jarring to my senses. I remembered what happened that last second of the dream. I rubbed my bleary eyes and remembered. Malfoy, that disgusting prat, had acted like he wanted to kiss me, and then he pushed me into the pool of water, everything turning black around me, as I heard his mocking laughter surrounding me as the water filled my lungs.

But it wasn't real, I reminded myself, looking out the bedroom window. Everyone was still asleep; it must have been only 6 in the morning. I looked around at the sleeping lumps around me, and tentatively poked Alice with my big toe to see if she was spying on me. The lump Alice turned over in her sleep, muttering something about a Hungarian Horntail. I rolled my eyes and got out of bed, knowing the disturbing dream would keep me from sleeping any longer. I had fallen asleep with a book of poetry, but the shenanigans from last night made me unable to read past a second verse. I gently took my book and placed it in my open suitcase by the bed. I made my way downstairs, knowing at least grandma Molly and Mum would be awake.

Drinking tea in the morning with my elderly witch grandmother was always quite amusing. She was exceedingly brave (being a Weasley), smart, witty, and kind, but she had not a lick of knowledge about the Muggle World. Also several generations older than the rest of the family, she could hardly comprehend the newest wizarding fads. For example, there was a new card game called "Quiddo" out that showed famous Quidditch players with moving headshots on the front and famous facts and games they had been in on the back. Hugo was obsessed. He must've had over a hundred cards (to Mum's dismay).

I found Grandma Molly bustling around the kitchen that morning, boiling water magically with her weathered wand and enchanting her needles to knit the continuous line of jumpers for Christmas. When she saw me, she clicked her tongue in disapproval, and I looked over myself lazily. My hair uncombed (it was difficult to keep the mane tamed), sloppy fuzzy pajamas, my glasses askew on my face, smudged with something undistinguishable. I think I even noticed some toothpaste spilt on my pajama shirt.

"Your brother Hugo is leaving his silly Kiddo cards all around!" My grandmother complained, and it was just then that I realized she hadn't noticed my ragged appearance, but was merely disapproving of my brother's slobbish ways.

"Yes, well, we are Ron's children, aren't we? And it's Quiddo, Grandma, not Kiddo." I got myself a glass of milk and plopped down

Grandma chuckled happily, reaching over to give me a kiss on the cheek. "I trust you slept well? I'm just getting coffee and tea ready, Malfoy's in the back helping me with the eggs."

At the mention of Malfoy, I nearly choked on my milk. "He's helping you? He's awake?"

Grandma Molly clicked her tongue once again. "You don't know your friends very well, do you? He's an early riser. Apparently he helps Ginny make breakfast all the time when he visits Albus."

"Malfoy doesn't have a generous bone in his body." I said sharply, my stomach feeling slightly uneasy. I wished with all my might that I wasn't an early riser, but I couldn't help it. I had always been.

"I don't, then?" said a familiar voice from behind me. I didn't bother turning around, knowing the platinum blond head would eventually invade my view.

It was actually quite rewarding to see a sleepy-looking Malfoy, in pajamas, carrying a basket of muddy eggs. "It's raining." He declared as my Grandma took the eggs with many thanks. "Well, Weasley," he said, turning to me. Even wet with rain, his hair still managed to look perfectly shiny and neat. Even in pajamas he didn't look the least bit sloppy. "You look like you've already gone down to King's Cross and have been run over by a dozen trains."

I turned my nose up at him with as much dignity as I could, even as I felt my smudged glasses falling down my face.

"What did you do, blow your nose on your glasses?" he said with disgust.

To my utter annoyance, Grandma Molly stifled a laugh at this remark, which only made Malfoy smirk wider. "We are always saying how smudged her glasses are! Dear Rose can't keep something clean if her life depended on it." Grandma exclaimed behind the hot griddle. "Why don't you two be dears and wake everyone up? We must get to Kings Cross in time. And no fighting, please! I would rather not hand a hexed grandson over to Lucius." Grandma gave me a knowing look, but as angry as I felt, I knew better than to mouth off around Grandma Molly.

We both grumbled in response and took to the stairs of the Burrow.

Malfoy cleared his throat, obviously trying at conversation. I ignored him.

"Weasley, maybe we should talk about…ah…last night…"

"There's nothing we need to talk about, Malfoy." I cut at him, my face going slightly pink at the thought of our kiss.

I caught a glimpse of his face, which was turning red in anger. Ah, the perils of being pale. Every emotion showed like a mirror image of your insides. "No wonder your only friends are your family, Weasley! You are the most difficult person on the planet to talk to—you're like a brick wall! For once I try to be civil around you and—and—you're impossible! Not to mention no guy wants to talk to you because you're so bloody scary and difficult to be around! Its no wonder you don't have a boyfriend!" Malfoy stormed off in anger.

Quite shocked, I paused on the steps to think about what he said. I heard something and looked up, seeing my favorite cousin Albus descending the stairs. He was clearly half asleep, but he had heard the whole exchange. Pain strewn across his face, he came to hug me.

"I'm sorry Rosie. I'll tell him off later for being so rude."

I hadn't realized until he embraced me that tears stung my eyes. My face was burning up. What Malfoy said was the truth, I was extremely stubborn, and my only friends were the people who were forced to live with me and be related to me.

"It's not true, I mean, you have Alice!" Al said encouragingly.

"She might as well be related to me." I said, trying in vain to cover up the tears as allergies. I blotted my eyes with the tail of my tank top.

Al shrugged. "Practically everyone in Gryffindor wants to be friends with you, I mean, you're Hermione Granger's daughter! And I know a couple guys that would like to go out with you…it's just that…you're so…so…"

"Ugly? Prudish? Nerdy?" I finished for him, the tears now escaping my eyes freely.

"No, no, Rose!" Al said. "It's just that…you're so smart, and good at everything you do, and you always fight with Malfoy…well, some people think you're a tad stuck up."

"God! Malfoy is right, I am the worst!" I exclaimed.

"But it's not true! You're a great friend, loyal, smart, easy to talk to, it's everyone else's fault that they don't try to get to know you better before judging you! Really, people can be complete pricks."

I sniffled a little, realizing that maybe what Albus said had truth to it. And what Malfoy said, too. "Thanks, Albus." I said, wiping my wet face again.

Albus was quiet for a moment. We had been walking all this time, and now we were underneath the stairs, safely away from any prying ears.

"Why do you think Malfoy wanted to talk to you about last night?" Albus asked tentatively.

"Probably to make fun of me, my kissing skills, or to publicly shame me in some way shape or form." I sniveled.

"So, you guys actually did kiss, then?" Albus asked in disbelief.

"Of course we did! If we hadn't, your magic bottle would've hexed us!"

Albus shook his head solemnly. "No it wouldn't have. I just told you guys that so you would do it."

"Albus!" I exclaimed, slightly angry. "How could you do that to us?"

"Rose," Albus said softly, as if he was trying to convince me of something. I raised my eyebrows, not expecting to like whatever was coming. "I did it for a reason. Tell me about the kiss, was it a good kiss?"

My mind went back to last night. As soon as the closet door was shut, I didn't really have time to think. I could just barely see the glint of Malfoy's eyes through the slit in the door, and he was staring at me.

"Let's get this over with." He said. His words, however, didn't sound hostile. They didn't even sound genuine. He softly grabbed my waist and I shivered, not expecting any touching other than the lips. Slowly, very slowly, he pulled me to him, until our bodies collided. I gasped slightly, and Scorpius just smirked. God, how I hated that smirk. I smacked him hard on the arm.

"Ouch," he said, only…it sounded pleasant. As if he found it amusing that I hit him. I wanted to tear away so badly, to refuse him a kiss if I could help it, but it would be embarrassing either way. This, I decided, was the lesser of two evils.

"You're over analyzing this, aren't you?" Malfoy said suddenly.

Confused, I looked up into his eyes. I didn't realize until then that I had been avoiding his never wavering gaze. Yep, he was definitely staring at me. Like I was prey or something.

As soon as I looked up at him, one of his hands raised to the small of my back while the other cupped my face and pulled me towards him. I'll admit. I had never been touched by a boy this much in my life. I had kissed, but it was more of a playground kiss. I had never had…whatever this was.

I couldn't deny what my body was feeling. I almost felt light-headed with all the new sensations. Malfoy cupped my face and put his surprisingly warm lips on mine. For a few moments, that's how it stayed. Then we broke away…and reconnected. My hands raised half-heartedly to touch him. I felt a tumble in my stomach as the next time he kissed me….his lips were parted. He tilted his head, and my lips opened as well, my face searing hot and his chest thumping beneath my hands. Yeah, his heart was beating really fast. Was that because we were kissing, because he was nervous? Why would Malfoy, of all people, be nervous kissing someone he thought was ugly? We were in a dark closet, after all—

The next time our lips collided, I stopped thinking altogether. It was impossible to think when his hands were cupped on my waist, my arms were around his neck, pulling him to me, and his tongue…his lips were glistening when we were done. Malfoy said nothing as we pulled away. He simply took in a deep breath, exhaled shakily, and left the closet. I heard him mutter a goodnight to Albus, and he practically ran out of the room to where the boys slept.

Now living in the present, I turned to Albus. "Um…it was nice." I saw a small glint in Albus' eyes. "But please, for the love of all that is good, don't tell Scorpius I said that."

Al Smiled widely at me.

"What?" I demanded.

"Seems we've made progress already." Al said, smirking all too much like Malfoy. "You just called him Scorpius."


	6. Chapter 6

SR Chapter 6

My school books in tow, my cat cage in my arms, I was finally beginning to feel the first thrill that always came with the new school year. Albus and Alice walked on either side of me across the cobblestone of King's Cross. From a short distance we saw her father, professor Longbottom, already at the Platform. He waved to Uncle Harry, and soon all the adults were talking and reminiscing. Alice, Hugo and I ran through the wall together, with Albus, Scorpius, Lily, and Roxanne behind us. Our part-Veela cousins were lagging behind, as usual.

Malfoy and I had ignored each other quite successfully since the yelling match earlier. Soon the time came in which we all were hugging our parents and saying goodbye to Uncles and Aunts and the other various Wotter relatives. Seeing that Malfoy had already loaded his luggage and was about to board, with none of his family in sight, I actually risked speaking to him.

"Malfoy, where are your parents?"

He looked slightly surprised that I was speaking to him, but he quickly recovered and replaced his expression with one of sour distain.

"Where do you think, Weasley? They didn't show up."

With that, Malfoy turned his back to me and boarded the train without another word.

I stood, dumbfounded, until Albus came up behind me with his trunks. "You seen Scorpius, Rose? I can't find him and his dad is here."

I whirled my head around, and sure enough, I saw the platinum head of the imperious Draco Malfoy. I saw him saunter over to us.

He said quite coolly, "Scorpius has already boarded the train, then?" I nodded at him, too surprised to speak. Mr. Malfoy had never addressed me directly. The middle-aged man narrowed his eyes at me, looking over me quite critically. "Red hair," he said.

"Rose Weasley." I said, sticking my hand out formally.

Mr. Malfoy coughed, and ignored my hand. A slight smile crept onto his lips. No, no, it was a smirk. But much colder than Scorpius'. And suddenly, I began to notice every little difference between the younger Malfoy and his father. For one, Scorpius' eyes had a twinge of green in them. Scorpius also didn't look as…well, devilish. "I know. Scorpius' choice of friends continues to confuse me—"

"Oh we're not friends—"

"But…" Mr. Malfoy went on talking, obviously not caring for a conversation with me. "He is my son. If you would be so kind I would like you to deliver a message for me."

I just looked at him, wondering if it was me or Albus he was talking to. Then I realized that Albus had boarded the train already, and I was left talking to Draco Malfoy by myself.

"Tell my son that I would like a word with him. McGonagall will let him floo to the Ministry." He smirked again, then turned to walk away.

What a strange relationship, was all I thought as I boarded the train, blowing kisses to my parents and waving emphatically to my many, many relations. At the last minute, my father seemed overwhelmed with emotion, and he ran up to hug me tightly one last time, planting an embarrassing kiss on Hugo's head.

As soon as I got to my normal compartment, I shrunk slightly when I saw who was in it.

"Malfoy, what are you doing in here?"

Scorpius smirked, showing what I had never noticed were dimples before, and sat down. "Albus told me he wanted to ride with you and Alice. I can't imagine why." At this, Scorpius flicked his eyes towards the compartment door, in which Alice and Albus' shadows were talking.

"Jealous?" I asked, sitting down as far away from him as I possibly could.

Scorpius gave a derisive snort.

"Must I say, your family has a disgusting was of displaying affection." he said.

I shot my eyes at him, making sure to sink in the 'I hate you' expression as much as possible. "Well, it's better than what your family has."

At this, Scorpius actually showed some human emotion. His eyes widened, his smirk dissolved. "What do you mean?"

I rolled my eyes, hoping I was hitting some nerves. "You and your father conveniently not running into each other. You hate one another's guts. Lord knows why your mom doesn't want to see you."

Scorpius stood up, his face beating red. "Don't you dare ever say one word about my mother."

"Why not?" I asked, slightly afraid of his anger.

"Because she didn't do a fucking thing to you or your disgustingly emotional, loving family!"

"At least I have a loving family!" I shouted at him, and I could feel my ears heating up.

Just then, Alice and Albus came into the compartment, all laughs and smiles. They instantly noticed the intense mood, Scorpius looking like he was about to blow smoke out of his ears, me looking as though I had been slapped.

"What the hell is going on here?" Albus said, sitting next to Scorpius.

"Oh yes, Albus, take his side. Like you always do!" I snapped.

"I believe I took your side this morning, Rose Granger-Weasley." Albus cut back. "Really, I love both of you equally, I just want to know what happened this time."

"Mmm, from the looks of it, Scorpius insulted Rose's family and Rose came back with a cutting remark about his family." Alice piped up from beside me. "Same as usual!"

"Old prejudices die hard, don't they?" Albus said dryly. "Seriously, you two, let go of the whole Weasley-Malfoy feud. It's a thing of the past."

"It's not a thing of the past when Malfoy thinks he can insult my red hair and obnoxious father every five minutes."

"It's not our fault that we refuse to get along while you and Alice continue to get closer." Scorpius quipped at his best friend.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Albus asked, his voice getting unnaturally high at the end of the question.

I stifled a snicker. Alice sighed and replied, "He's implying that we are flirting with each other." She then went back to her Quibbler magazine, as if the whole subject was typical Hogwarts-train conversation.

"What! That's ridiculous, utterly inconceivable and immature. Even if we were—which we're not—it's not like we'd just ignore you guys—I think I'm giving the situation a fair amount of attention-!" Albus sputtered, whipping his head back and forth from me to Scorpius.

I smiled gently at my favorite cousin, some of my anger having dissolved in the humor of the situation. "Excuse me, Al, or I'll be late for the prefect meeting."

Scorpius muttered an obscenity at this remark. "Kill me now. You're a prefect too?"

I glared at him. "You're asking Hermione Granger's daughter if she's a prefect?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, Miss 'Practically Perfect in Every Way'!" Scorpius snorted at me.

I stood up hastily to leave the compartment.

Alice cooed after us, "Have fun you two!"

Scorpius dramatically slammed the door.

McGonagall was waiting primly in her compartment, her green velvet robes flowing elegantly to her feet. Scorpius and I both nodded politely to her, addressing our headmaster formally.

"Welcome back to another year, you two." She said, narrowing her eyes slightly at us, as if she could see through walls and doors and simultaneously read our minds.

Uncle harry always said that Dumbledore had a knack for knowing everything that happened at Hogwarts. Sometimes, I got the eerie feeling that McGonagall saw all too.

The prefects for the other houses were already settled in, except for the Hufflepuffs, who hustled in soon after us.

"As you all know, a prefect's job is to exemplify not only the ideal student, but also a respectful, responsible young adult. It goes without saying that prefects should be on time, studious, wise, and kind to all." If I wasn't mistaken, I saw McGonagall look at Scorpius and I when she said this. "In other words, you must portray all the best characteristics of each house. If I catch any funny business, and I think you all know what I mean by that, I will not hesitate taking away your badge. Is that perfectly understood?"

We all nodded solemnly.

"Now, onto business. The third floor corridor B is restricted to all students. Every so often I will have one of you patrol this area, but only to make sure no students or unauthorized personnel enter. In addition, the Room of Requirement is also off limits. Don't worry about covering your tracks if you decide to break this rule, because I will know who has used it. Of course you all know about the forbidden forest – it is strictly centaur land, meaning if you trespass, you will get torn to little pieces and sacrificed to the stars. Hagrid will see to that no students enter. Now, for your patrol schedules. I have them here."

McGonagall handed out a time table to each house, which showed what prefects would be patrolling where and when.

I held the schedule for Gryffindor, and I clenched my teeth tightly when I noticed that Scorpius and I shared practically all of our routes. What was McGonagall trying to do to us?

The meeting was soon adjourned, and Scorpius and I were about to leave when McGonagall called us back.

"Rose, Scorpius, a minute please." She said in her prim accent. She cleared her throat tentatively, and somehow I could sense we both knew what was coming. "Your fifth year is upon you, and yet the two of you have yet to become civil towards each other."

There were more than a couple ticks of awkward silence, and through the corner of my eye I saw Scorpius itch his neck with an expression that quite clearly said 'oh well.'

"The other professors thought it against my better judgement to make you both prefects, as your history states you will be getting along when pigs fly. However, I have paired you in most of your patrol routes because I know you two can do better, and I'm willing to put you to the challenge. No more fighting, name calling, or innapropriate hexing. I think if you both learn how to be civil towards one another, you will find you have much more in common than you ever realized."

I could practically hear my desire to snort at this comment, and it took all my power to hold it back. Scorpius nodded at our headmaster good-naturedly. "Spoken like a true Dumbledore." He said.

"Thank you, Mr. Malfoy. Enjoy the rest of the ride." Our headmaster said this dryly, as if challenging us once again to get along. I could practically hear the jeer in Scorpius' voice.

As soon as we were out of the compartment, I whirled Malfoy into a corner.

"Don't get any bright ideas, Malfoy. I will not get my prefect badge taken away from you. I plan to be Head Girl two years from now, and I won't let anything, including your dead body, get in my way." I crossed my arms, quite happy with my threatening speech and the shocked look on Malfoy's face.

"I don't have a clue what you're talking about, Rosie." Scorpius said flippantly.

I nearly punched him in the face then, but the gleam of my prefect badge sparkled down from my black Hogwarts jumper. I merely clenched my teeth, the patrol schedule gripped tight, and continued down the corridor where I knew an understanding Alice was waiting for me.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Feast

Rose POV

Several hours later, our friends Tim McLaggen and Emily Thomas entered our compartment, along with out seventh year cousin Louis. Louis, looking perfectly blond as ever, had a nameless girl in two with him. There were now eight people in our compartment, and the chatter got quite loud. Emily, Thomas, Alice and I were eating Bertie Botts every flavor beans, transfiguring ourselves into different professors and reacting to the nasty flavors as best we could.

Alice turned herself successfully into a prim Headmaster McGonagall. She plopped a minty0loking candy bean in her mouth. "Hmm…I do say, this spearmint toothpaste is quite refreshing."

Cackling with pleasure, I was glad my friends were present to keep my mind off of Malfoy. I had been thinking about him way too often lately, and the private meeting with McGonagall didn't make things any better. Mostly, however, I felt shame in being called out by one of my favorite wizard role models. "My mother would have never gotten into this situation," I thought disappointedly to myself.

"Oi, you lot, Weasley's talking to herself!" Scorpius suddenly called out.

Great, I must've said that thing about my mum out loud. Nearly everyone in the compartment began to jeer and tease me then.

"Rosie, the alternate personalities compartment is that way," Louis said to me. I punched him in the shoulder playfully, but I was strong enough that he actually flinched. "Calm down, Keeper!" he said.

"Rose should be a rugby player, with that arm!" Emily laughed.

"Her hefty shoulders wouldn't hurt, either." Scorpius said devilishly, staring at me the whole time.

Albus hit him in rebuke. "Hey, that's my cousin you're talking about! And she's anything but hefty—she's just a little short!"

"Oh, please, Rose should be a ballerina for she is as dainty as she is elegant." Alice piped up in her dreamy voice.

I snorted at my best friend's comment. "Are you sure you aren't speaking of Lily Potter?" I asked.

We went on this way for a while, Scorpius' comments getting more and more severe, and Albus continued telling him to shut up. Finally the night sky appeared, and the beautiful mountains of Scotland were in the distance. The scenery was enchanting in the night sky. With barely any light pollution, the stars were clear and bright. I looked forward to seeing them cast on the ceiling of the Great Hall.

"Time for you robes, everyone!" Scorpius called out. He sounded slightly more energetic than usual.

Once we were dressed, Scorpius and I left the compartment to go tell the first years it was time to put their robes on. A lot of them looked dead scared of us, but a few gave us wide smiles that clearly said, "I can't wait for school!" It was quite endearing, really.

As the train soon came to a stop, we caught our first glimpse of Hogwarts Castle in the distance, and the first years gasped when they saw the huge, overshadowing form of Hagrid outside the window. A puny first year tugged on Scorpius' robes.

I was utterly astonished when Scorpius didn't tell him to shove off. Instead, Scorpius leaned down to hear what the boy had to say.

"Um, who's that? Is it a man?" the boy asked. He was clearly talking about Hagrid, and scared out of his wits.

"Oh, that's Hagrid. He looks frightening, but he's one of the gentlest people you will ever meet. He takes care of the grounds here at Hogwarts." Scorpius said softly to the boy. He stood up then, leading the first years off the train first so that they could get in the boats safely.

I had a lot of fun escorting first years around. They looked at everything with new eyes. The world could literally hold anything in store for them from now on. Lots of them had never performed magic on purpose before, and the muggleborns had never seen anything like floating candles or professors that could transfigure into cats. Hogwarts was a wonderland of new possibilities.

After the sorting, I dove into my food like a true Weasley.

"Oh, Hogwarts pie! I missed you!" I said, shoveling some pumpkin pie into my face. Hugo decided not to sit with me but with some new friends he had made. When I saw him sit at the table and transfigure someone's drink into a popping potion, he looked more like my dad than I had ever seen him.

Albus and Scorpius talked excitedly to one another, first about Quidditch (The Ravenclaw Seeker had broken her arm over break, so they wouldn't be as good for a few months), then about Defense against the Dark Arts. There was a new professor, from the looks of it. Dark-haired and sallow, he portrayed a particular resemblance to Professor Snape.

"That's my cousin, I think." Scorpius was saying quietly to Albus. "He's a Black. I don't know if he was on our side in the Battle of Hogwarts, or if they simply didn't have enough evidence to convict him, but he's one of the last of my family members who's not in Azkaban."

"Like, related to Sirius? How so?" I butted into their conversation.

Scorpius shook his head once, and then decided against it and included me in the conversation. "He's Sirius' adopted brother. He went into hiding, they say, from '80-95. He came out just as the Battle ended. Some call him a coward."

"I wonder why on earth McGonagall would hire him, then." Albus said in disbelief.

"Obviously, he can't be a coward if McGonagall believes in him." I said, examining the new Professor from afar.

"Well, Dumbledore was said to be the wisest wizard of our fathers' time, and he hired Gilderoy Lockhart, the phony." Scorpius replied.

"You have a point." I conceded. "Even the best can make mistakes."

"Rose Weasley, admitting defeat for the first time in your life, are you?" Scorpius said slyly, smirking white teeth at me.

"If you're going to use my full name, might as well use it correctly. It's Rose Granger-Weasley." I smirked right back at him, and started a staring contest to which Scorpius didn't give up easily. Eventually Albus patted him on the back while he was drinking, and that not only resulted in Scorpius losing the stare battle, but also spewing pumpkin juice all over me and my plate.

"Damn Scorpius!" I said, then remembered to lower my voice. Cursing at the table wasn't a very prefect-like behavior to model at all of the first-years who were staring at "the Minister for Magic's Daughter." "Scorgify!" I said to my plate, and in an instant it was wiped clean and more food was plopped on by none other than Scorpius himself.

"Here you go, Rosie posie." He said with an annoyingly sweet tone. My cousins giggled at this display.

"Get your hands off my food, Malfoy." I said grumpily. Scorpius was always so smug when he made my family members laugh at me.

"I was just trying to help you, my dear friend." Scorpius replied, leaning his arms on the table and batting his silver lashes at me. I had to admit to myself, the display was quite funny coming from the normally stony Malfoy, but I held it in to show I hated the boy.

"I told you, don't get any ideas." I snapped at him, plunging once again into my beloved potatoes.

"Whatever do you mean, dear?" he asked, picking up a napkin and plunging towards me so he could wipe something off my upper lip.

By now, the whole Wotter clan and many of the first years were staring at us.

"Oi, what's going on?" Louis asked.

Albus rolled his eyes at them all. "Don't get your knickers in a twist. Scorpius is just trying to embarrass Rose."

This comment got several giggles. Embarrassed I was. My face was beat red as I smacked Malfoy's hand away from my face. He was surprisingly gentle when he touched my face, and I felt something roll in my stomach as if a great emotion awakened suddenly. As soon as I felt it, I tried my hardest to repress it, which only made me feel more uncomfortable.

The feeling was the same as when he had kissed me. Even though it was a fake kiss…I did get lost in it. I tried to keep myself from thinking about it as I watched Scorpius put his napkin down with those long, pale fingers, the same that had touched my lower back oh so gently and left it burning—

I looked away from him quickly to the only person I really could—Albus. Albus was searching my face, and I knew he could practically read my thoughts. And he was smiling…the most aggravating grin he could possibly conjure.

"Scorpius if you so much as lay one finger on me again—"

I was lightly kicked from under the table. It was Scorpius, lightly tapping me repeatedly with him foot. "STOP that!"

I surprised myself with the loudness of my own voice. I looked around, hoping no one heard. I caught McGonagall's eyes on me for half a second, then they were searching the rest of the hall again.

"Careful, Rosie, don't want to lose that shiny new badge, would we?" Scorpius cooed at me.

I exhaled slowly, and turned to Alice, who was looking wonderfully oblivious to my perils. "I can't wait to get out of here." I said to her.

"I know what you mean." She responded lazily. "My owl has got to be lonely by now."

I rolled my eyes at her. As much as she could get on my nerves sometimes, she was nothing compared to the smirking menace that was Scorpius Malfoy.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Confession

Scorpius POV

As soon as I returned from sheparding the first years into their dorms, Albus was waiting for me in ours. And when I say waiting, I mean he was standing behind the door with his hands on his hips and a creepy smile on his face. When I opened the door, I practically jumped back three feet.

"What are you doing, standing there like that? You're lucky my wand wasn't drawn!" I exclaimed.

"Let's cut straight to the chase, Scorp." Albus said, beginning to pace the room with his hands behind his back. He had a slight twinkle in his eye, as if he had a devilish idea.

"I don't know what you're on about." I said, sitting down on my bed and getting a very weird feeling this would be about Rose Weasley.

That red-headed she-devil.

"The feast tonight was interesting, even more interesting was your behavior."

I rolled my eyes, hoping I pulled off the classic Malfoy 'I don't care about anything' look. I never was very good at that look…too much like my mother, my father always said.

I took off my shoes, placing them neatly beside my bed. Me and Albus were total opposites. I was neat, clean, my hair always combed, my homework always finished, I was motivated and straightforward. He was messy, lightly careless, extremely brave and competitive. I, however, worried about every detail of my life and embarrassed myself on a daily basis, while everything he did was without fault. Yes, Albus Potter was overconfident and bold. I was meek. But I couldn't remember a time when we didn't get along. There are some people you always want to be friends with and never get the chance, like Rose Weasley, and there are other people who you're made to be with, like Albus.

"You're playing the annoy-her-until-she-loves-you card. Not very effective at first, but you may see results in four years or so." Albus' smirk was starting to get on my nerves.

I scowled at him, knowing it was beneath me (and also pointless) to argue about Rose with him. Once in third year I had mentioned some feelings for her, and Albus had never let me live it down. Since then I've tried lying and saying I've gotten over it, but of course he doesn't believe me.

"With you both being prefects this year, you'll have lots of other opportunities. May I suggest a different strategy?"

"I refuse to talk about this with you, Albus. And first of all, there is nothing to talk about."

"If you're worried about her not liking you, I think she's starting to melt." Albus said slyly.

Now this caught my attention. "What?" I asked in disbelief. "You're full of it."

"How exactly did you kiss her?" Albus asked, a slight seriousness making its way into his voice.

"You're her cousin! I can't discuss that with you!"

"Just tell me how you kissed her, you dolt."

"I kissed her like I meant it." I finally relented. "Because I did mean it." I could practically feel the disappointment in my voice. What a sorry excuse for a Malfoy I was…but on the other hand, isn't that what I always wanted to be?

Albus sighed, smiling at me genuinely. "You're so hard and cold on the outside, Malfoy, but that's not who you are. And everyone knows by now except for Rose."

"That's because I'm the embarrassing idiot who's always second-in-class." I said.

Albus' smile was annoying me greatly, and I almost told him to fuck off, when he spoke before me.

"I have an idea."

Rose's POV

I laid in my bed, rubbing the sheets lovingly as my cat, Penelope, walked on my back. "It's so good to be back!" I said happily to Alice.

Alice was also lounging on her bed, a dreamy gaze in her eyes. She was petting her pigmy owl gently. "Me too. Howard hated the ride down. He always does."

I smiled at Alice, fondly recalling her ability to feel animal's emotions. "What is Penelope feeling right now, Alice?" I asked her, half-joking. I wasn't exactly sure if I believed in her animal-whispering, but she knew I liked to humor her.

"She is wishing you would get your lazy butt up so she has the whole bed to lie down on." Alice smiled at me, beginning to laugh as I was. "But she is glad you're here to pet her. And she is happy to see you."

I hugged Penelope tightly, which released several angry meows from her. "Oh, Penelope, I always knew your hard exterior loved me!"

Alice giggled. "That makes two of them, then!" she said.

I looked at her. "Alice, I don't think Howard really likes me that much." I said, reaching to touch the small owl, but he cooed and scrabbled away from me.

"No, silly." Alice said. "I wasn't talking about Howard. I was talking about Scorpius." She gave a small giggle.

I looked moodily at her. "You just ruined my night by mentioning that foul boy."

Alice smiled lightly, pulling at the loose yarn on her blanket from home. "He's fond of you." She sang happily.

"Be quiet before I barf. Did you not hear those awful things he was saying about my body on the train?" I said, standing up to look at myself in the full-length mirror by the bathroom. "And just think, I will have to endure that all year during prefect rounds and every class."

Alice just shook her head. "Can't you understand that he only says those things to hide what he really thinks? And feels? If you could have seen his face they day you were in your bathing suit by the pool…"

"Why must you be so observant, Alice?" I asked uncomfortably. "I don't want to know what was going on in that sick little boy's head."

To tell the truth, the thought of Malfoy looking at my body admiringly made me nervous. Which one of my flaws would he point out next?

"Of course, at first I thought he was just a mean git. Then I saw what he acts like around other girls."

"What does he act like?" I asked, slightly interested.

"He ignores them completely! It's like no other girls exist except for Rose Weasley." Alice reported.

"Because he thinks I'm so devastatingly ugly. He can't help but notice me."

"It's quite the opposite, Rose. And once he matures, he will be a kind man." She stated matter-of-factly.

"Alice, why must you always sound so wise?" I scolded her mockingly. "You know what I've just realized? Your name sounds an awful like Albus. My two best friends, Alice and Albus. Isn't that delightful! Albus, Alice, Albus, Alice, Albus, Alice—"

I was stopped my chanting when a pillow came flying at my face.

"How dare you!" I gasped in fake-shock. "If I didn't know any better, I'd continue pairing you and Albus' names together! Alice and Albus, sitting in a tree! K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

Another pillow came hurtling at me, and this one was followed by a giggling Alice. Our pets wisely jumped off the beds and went to hide themselves from the mass of flying pillows. Howard looked at the loose feathers in horror; Penelope gazed at the pillow fight as if she was questioning the human existence.

As much fun as I had with my best friend, I could not stop the thoughts that night. Thoughts about Scorpius Malfoy again. About how he might look at me if he liked me, about the feeling of his warm lips if we ever kissed again…and it was just before I fell asleep when I realized I would like it. I would enjoy another kiss, and I longed for his arms around me. I must've been completely crazy.

Scorpius POV

I dreamed about Rose Weasley that night. You know how people say that if you dream about someone, they're thinking about you? Yeah, I always thought that was bullshit. But maybe Rose was thinking about how much she hated me, and I just had to have a super sexy dream about her. I didn't know how that psychologically worked, but it didn't matter. For the whole five minutes of my dream, she was really in my arms. I wasn't insulting her for once in her life, but I was calling her beautiful and amazing, like she was.

Yeah, I must've been crazy. But kissing Rose Weasley's cute, freckled face wasn't something that should have been done in a dark closet. Albus always told me that I should just grow the balls to kiss her for real. I was starting to think that maybe he was right. If only his plan would work….


End file.
